{"id":184,"date":"2009-01-09T12:07:26","date_gmt":"2009-01-09T16:07:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/2009\/01\/09\/rain-and-lessons-in-contentment\/"},"modified":"2009-01-09T12:35:20","modified_gmt":"2009-01-09T16:35:20","slug":"rain-and-lessons-in-contentment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/?p=184","title":{"rendered":"Rain and Lessons in Contentment"},"content":{"rendered":"

I fully believe that Joy is a choice.\u00c2\u00a0 I am currently reading several books that tell me\u00c2\u00a0it is not my circumstances that determine my happiness, but the story I tell myself about those circumstances.\u00c2\u00a0 I have heard sermons about contentment.\u00c2\u00a0 I have lectured at length to my children that complaining will only make them unhappy.\u00c2\u00a0 I believe this.<\/p>\n

In the last couple days, I got a delightful three-part reminder.<\/p>\n

It began on Wednesday morning. \u00c2\u00a0I was doing a quick run to the grocery store.\u00c2\u00a0 We had expected an ice storm, but instead we got nasty, cold, heavy, near-freezing rain.<\/p>\n

I do not like rain in the winter.\u00c2\u00a0 I tend to think how much I would prefer snow.\u00c2\u00a0 Rain in winter is almost as cold as snow, but not as pretty, and not as fun.\u00c2\u00a0 It soaks into your clothes much more quickly, and doesn’t brighten a dark day like snow does.<\/p>\n

As I came out of the grocery store, the thought crossed my mind that it was a shame I had to make a grocery run today.\u00c2\u00a0 The thought lingered long enough for me to feel guilty about the negativity.\u00c2\u00a0 But I was justified!\u00c2\u00a0 After all, loading groceries into the car in the pouring, cold rain is not a fun thing to do.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Ask anyone!<\/p>\n

No sooner had that thought crossed my mind than I looked up and saw a mother and son walking toward the store.\u00c2\u00a0 The mother had an umbrella, but the little boy, about three years old, wasn’t paying any attention to staying under it.\u00c2\u00a0 He was positively dancing with joy at being out in the rain.\u00c2\u00a0 His shiny yellow boots splashed the pavement with zest, and you could instantly see how excited he was about this wondrous chance to go shopping in the rain!<\/p>\n

Kind of put things in perspective for me!<\/p>\n

The next day,\u00c2\u00a0a new book by Mo Willems, Are You Ready to Play Outside? <\/em>came to the library.<\/p>\n

\"play_outside.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Piggie is so excited about playing outside with Gerald!\u00c2\u00a0 They will run!\u00c2\u00a0 They will skip!\u00c2\u00a0 They will jump!\u00c2\u00a0 NOTHING will stop them!<\/p>\n

Then it begins to rain.<\/p>\n

It pours.\u00c2\u00a0 Piggie is NOT a happy pig.<\/p>\n

Gerald, an elephant, first tries shielding Piggie with his ear, but it is still raining.\u00c2\u00a0 Piggie doesn’t see how anyone could possibly play\u00c2\u00a0outside with all this rain.<\/p>\n

Then they see two worms come out, exuberantly happy, splishing and splashing in the rain.<\/p>\n

They decide to try it.\u00c2\u00a0 They run!\u00c2\u00a0 They skip!\u00c2\u00a0 They jump!\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Piggie decides he loves rain!\u00c2\u00a0 He hopes it rains all day!<\/p>\n

Then it stops.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Piggie is not a happy pig.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, Piggie has an elephant for a friend, who has a solution.<\/p>\n

This book conveys its message far more effectively than any sermon, lecture, or nonfiction book.\u00c2\u00a0 Part of the effectiveness is Mo Willems’ brilliant illustrations.\u00c2\u00a0 With simple cartoon drawings he makes you feel his characters’ emotions.\u00c2\u00a0 I never imagined that worms could look so joyful!\u00c2\u00a0 Elephant and Piggie turning somersaults and kicking up their heels in the rain proclaim complete exuberance.\u00c2\u00a0 You don’t just read about Piggie’s frustration turned to joy.\u00c2\u00a0 You experience it!<\/p>\n

Last night, I brought the book home and showed it to my son.\u00c2\u00a0 I told him about seeing the little boy in the rain.\u00c2\u00a0 Gerald and Piggie dancing in the rain reminded me very much of that little boy in his yellow boots.<\/p>\n

I think of Are You Ready to Play Outside? <\/em>as a metaphor for life itself.\u00c2\u00a0 After all, I reflected, at this time of my life, I am single, not by my own choice.\u00c2\u00a0 I can spend my time moping about how I wish it would stop “raining” or I can skip and jump and dance in the rain.<\/p>\n

Isn’t it true that people like Piggie who are unhappy in the rain tend to be the exact same people who are unhappy when it stops?<\/p>\n

Later, I was e-mailing friends about the Inaugural Parade, in which my husband\u00c2\u00a0will be\u00c2\u00a0marching.\u00c2\u00a0 Even though he left me and has told me he wants nothing to do with me, I find myself feeling proud and excited that he’s going to take part in this historic event.\u00c2\u00a0 Someone sent me a link to an inaugural website, and from there I went to an Air Force page and found a story about the Air Force Band.\u00c2\u00a0 Apparently, they are supplementing the main DC band with musicians from several field bands for one big 99-member band for the parade, which is why my husband and several other Air Force musicians I know all get to participate.<\/p>\n

What I didn’t realize is that they are already in the DC area.\u00c2\u00a0 My son had mentioned that his Dad was going to be practicing 8 days for the parade, but I didn’t realize it had already begun.\u00c2\u00a0 In fact, according to the article, the whole group began practicing this past Wednesday — in the pouring, cold, nasty, near-freezing rain.<\/p>\n

I would be ashamed to report that this simple fact gave me a certain satisfaction.\u00c2\u00a0 I would be ashamed to say that the very nasty, cold, and unpleasant aspects of that rain now filled me with a certain unreasonable delight.<\/p>\n

So I will simply say this.\u00c2\u00a0 The next time I am caught in a cold and nasty downpour, I will reflect that it could be worse.\u00c2\u00a0 I could have to practice marching in it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I fully believe that Joy is a choice.\u00c2\u00a0 I am currently reading several books that tell me\u00c2\u00a0it is not my circumstances that determine my happiness, but the story I tell myself about those circumstances.\u00c2\u00a0 I have heard sermons about contentment.\u00c2\u00a0 I have lectured at length to my children that complaining will only make them unhappy.\u00c2\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,28,4,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-contentment","category-devotional-thoughts","category-joy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}